Chapter 186

During a class I was barely even pretending to listen to anymore, I seriously thought about it.

What could Sara possibly like?

Truthfully, I didn't think I knew Sara that well. I had read her memories and I knew how she felt in certain situations, but honestly, it was all rather superficial.

Even if I read her memories and felt her emotions, they weren't my memories. I saw Sara's memories from 'my' perspective. It was like watching an ultra-realistic drama or film.

Above all, Sara was the type who almost never talked to herself.

You might ask what that has to do with anything, but as I said, I see Sara's memories from my perspective. Memories constructed through Sara's gaze and thoughts are never entirely accurate. The human brain doesn't store information the way a computer does.

I look at a world reconstructed from her experiences based on her thoughts, viewed not from her eyes but from mine.

Without Sara speaking, I had no way of knowing what she was thinking.

She never said much while eating, and she never talked to anyone.

In Sara's past, the only person she was ever fixated on was Choi Na-kyung.

So it's no wonder that even after reading so many memories and experiencing Sara's emotions in real time, I still found them superficial.

See, even at this very moment, Sara was feeling happy.

If I asked her why she was happy while sitting through a mind-numbingly boring class, Sara wouldn't answer. It was as if she was daring me to guess.

Idiot.

Or she'd laugh and tease me like that.

So my dilemma was bound to deepen.

What in the world did Sara like?

And of course, there were kids who felt even more stuck than I did.

Specifically, So-hee, who was sitting next to me, and Ha-neul, who was sitting next to her.

Both were pondering something with incredibly serious expressions.

...They were probably thinking about what to give me.

If the gift was for me instead of Sara... well, I naturally didn't care much what I got.

I didn't even have any memories of exchanging birthday presents with friends to begin with. If we had time, we'd meet up and have a meal; if not, we'd just send a KakaoTalk message wishing each other a happy birthday.

It's not that I never exchanged gifts; those memories were mostly from before middle school. Still, my parents did give me birthday presents until I was in college...

Well, it was usually just cash. I'd take the money and buy what I needed.

But still, handing envelopes of cash among friends felt a bit off.

I'm not some parent receiving a filial duty gift.

More importantly, that kind of gift-giving was rampant at this school, and somehow I felt like if I did that, I'd become just another one of those people.

So, I didn't care what I got.

Because I trusted that no matter how weird the gift, it wouldn't be something meant to torment me.

"......."

Um, but wait...

If 'I' receive gifts...

Wouldn't I have to give them birthday presents too?

Not just birthdays, but holidays too, like Christmas, the kind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of day when people exchange presents.

...It's complicated.

Still, it's a relief that I'm the one receiving gifts first.

I'll think about what to give the others gradually over the remaining months.

...Tch.

It seemed Sara had suddenly gotten sulky.

Were her mood swings this extreme because she's still a teenager?

Feeling a discontent slither up from deep within my consciousness, I mulled it over like that.

*

"Come to think of it, your birthday is coming up."

During lunch, as usual, Son A-reum suddenly said that to me.

I was startled.

Actually, not just me—Ha-neul, Su-a, and So-hee were also startled. Until they asked yesterday, those three hadn't known Sara's birthday either.

"Uh, um, yeah... it is my birthday. How did you know?"

"Well..."

Son A-reum answered my question with a gloomy look, dropping her gaze downward.

"Because I looked up your student info back when I was going to discipline you."

"Ah..."

But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was it okay for a student to look that up?

Still, no matter how weak the student council's presence here supposedly was, in this kind of genre it's common for the student council to be portrayed as a small government within the school.

I nodded, accepting it.

"So, I want to give you a present too..."

Son A-reum looked up at me cautiously, her eyes slightly wide, as she spoke.

"Would that be okay?"

I didn't think, 'Does she really need to ask that?'

Among close friends, exchanging birthday presents is natural, but a gift from someone you're 'not that close to' tends to be creepy.

Even if I were a guy, it'd be the same. If a girl I'd never exchanged a single word with at school gave me a huge teddy bear? That'd be scary, no matter how pretty she was.

That's basically a stalker.

"It's fine."

So I answered the anxious Son ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠A-reum.

"Okay!"

Son A-reum nodded excitedly. The idiot hair on top of her head bobbed up and down wildly; it was kind of funny.

I shrugged at her and was about to continue eating—

—when I noticed the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠strangely quiet atmosphere around us.

Nowadays, no one at school ignored me. Whether teachers or students, most of the people who used to ignore me would at least acknowledge Sara with a glance when passing by, and the scholarship students who'd taken money from me often waved cheerfully.

And any teachers or students who felt guilty had hurriedly left the school. It seemed that about half of the students from the already half-empty classrooms had hastily moved away as well. They were kids from wealthy families, so they probably had a vacant house to go to.

Anyway, because of that, the seats around us that used to always be empty were now packed. It wasn't so much that they were trying to curry favor; they seemed afraid that if they acted like before, they'd end up being treated the same as those who'd been forced to leave.

So lately, our surroundings had been quite noisy...

"Huh?"

When I sensed that strange silence and looked around, everyone hurriedly started eating.

But acting like that makes it look even weirder.

...Well, whatever.

Even if I'd escaped being ostracized, I was still someone to watch out for at school. Maybe they wanted to gather info by listening to what such a person said.

If I nitpicked every little behavior like that, it'd only give me a headache.

So I ignored my surroundings and kept eating.

Lately, I felt my body getting a lot healthier. I'd gained some weight and was eating more than when I first entered this body.

That was a good thing.

"Um, but..."

Mid-meal, Son A-reum hesitantly spoke up again.

"Hm?"

"Do you maybe have something you want? A gift?"

I shrugged once at her stammering words and answered.

"I don't care what it is. A gift is whatever the giver wants it to be."

"Eek."

Son A-reum made a face like she might choke on her food.

Did her food get stuck in her throat?

*

That was quite important information.

There were many ways to offer bribes to someone while avoiding the 'law' within this school.

Places were deliberately kept without a single CCTV, and they'd pass things that could be converted to cash under the guise of exchanging presents.

A check tucked between the pages of a book, or cash inside a drink box.

But even beyond these common ways, plenty of people used all sorts of bizarre methods to pass money.

The problem was that the intended recipient was 'Ye Sa-ra'.

Yes. The heiress of the wealthiest family in the country.

And now, with even the chairwoman on the run, it wasn't an exaggeration to say the company had effectively fallen into Ye Sa-ra's hands.

Of course, the person herself didn't pay the slightest bit of attention to that, but the students here couldn't possibly know that.

Therefore, from the moment Ye Sa-ra let slip a hint about her birthday at lunchtime, the kids who heard it began to agonize deeply.

They wanted to get on Ye Sa-ra's good side.

There was no harm in sucking up.

The students still remaining at this school were mostly those who couldn't transfer, or who hoped to cling to the school's not-yet-vanished prestige and the connections they'd built.

Since they'd have to see Ye Sa-ra's face all the way until graduation, they thought it was obviously better to stay in her good graces.

Of course, the person herself didn't have the slightest intention of that, but the other students had no way of knowing.

Still, the person in question was 'Ye Sa-ra'.

Yes, think about it again: Ye Sa-ra, one of the richest people in the country.

...In that case, it was obvious that ordinary bribery wouldn't work.

What in the world should they give?

The gazes around them turned to the kids sitting near Ye Sa-ra. The other students glanced over, studying those kids' expressions and actions.

Maybe the kids who always stuck by her could give them a clue.

There were a few people making that huge miscalculation.